The role of digital data entry in participatory environmental monitoring

Many argue that monitoring conducted exclusively by scientists is insufficient to address ongoing environmental challenges. One solution entails the use of mobile digital devices in participatory monitoring (PM) programs. But how digital data entry affects programs with varying levels of stakeholder participation, from nonscientists collecting field data to nonscientists administering every step of a monitoring program, remains unclear. We reviewed the successes, in terms of management interventions and sustainability, of 107 monitoring programs described in the literature (hereafter programs) and compared these with case studies from our PM experiences in Australia, Canada, Ethiopia, Ghana, Greenland, and Vietnam (hereafter cases). Our literature review showed that participatory programs were less likely to use digital devices, and 2 of our 3 more participatory cases were also slow to adopt digital data entry. Programs that were participatory and used digital devices were more likely to report management actions, which was consistent with cases in Ethiopia, Greenland, and Australia. Programs engaging volunteers were more frequently reported as ongoing, but those involving digital data entry were less often sustained when data collectors were volunteers. For the Vietnamese and Canadian cases, sustainability was undermined by a mismatch in stakeholder objectives. In the Ghanaian case, complex field protocols diminished monitoring sustainability. Innovative technologies attract interest, but the foundation of effective participatory adaptive monitoring depends more on collaboratively defined questions, objectives, conceptual models, and monitoring approaches. When this foundation is built through effective partnerships, digital data entry can enable the collection of more data of higher quality. Without this foundation, or when implemented ineffectively or unnecessarily, digital data entry can be an additional expense that distracts from core monitoring objectives and undermines project sustainability. The appropriate role of digital data entry in PM likely depends more on the context in which it is used and less on the technology itself.     

Effective communication about complex environmental issues: Perceived quality of information about carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) depends on stakeholder collaboration

This experimental research addresses the effectiveness of communication about complex environmental issues, depending on whether the same information is provided by multiple collaborating or by individual organizations (i.e., stakeholders). The information provided pertains to carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) technology, as an example of a complex environmental issue. In Studies 1 (N = 75) and 2 (N = 66) we found that participants perceived factual information from collaborating stakeholders to be of higher quality than when the same information was provided by individual stakeholders. As predicted, the expectation of diverse perspectives being represented in the collaborative information mediated this effect. In addition, in Study 3 (N = 79) the perceived dissimilarity of collaborating stakeholders was shown to be an important precondition for the collaboration effect observed in Studies 1 and 2. Finally, these studies indicate that occasional collaboration between different stakeholders does not necessarily harm the perceived credibility of each individual stakeholder.     

Review of LCA studies of solid waste management systems – Part II: Methodological guidance for a better practice

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is increasingly used in waste management to identify strategies that prevent or minimise negative impacts on ecosystems, human health or natural resources. However, the quality of the provided support to decision- and policy-makers is strongly dependent on a proper conduct of the LCA. How has LCA been applied until now? Are there any inconsistencies in the past practice? To answer these questions, we draw on a critical review of 222 published LCA studies of solid waste management systems. We analyse the past practice against the ISO standard requirements and the ILCD Handbook guidelines for each major step within the goal definition, scope definition, inventory analysis, impact assessment, and interpretation phases of the methodology. Results show that malpractices exist in several aspects of the LCA with large differences across studies. Examples are a frequent neglect of the goal definition, a frequent lack of transparency and precision in the definition of the scope of the study, e.g. an unclear delimitation of the system boundaries, a truncated impact coverage, difficulties in capturing influential local specificities such as representative waste compositions into the inventory, and a frequent lack of essential sensitivity and uncertainty analyses. Many of these aspects are important for the reliability of the results. For each of them, we therefore provide detailed recommendations to practitioners of waste management LCAs.     

转变观念 突破思维——对供销社再生资源行业的冷思考

在我国转变经济发展方式、调整经济结构的转型期，供销社再生资源行业面临重大的机遇和挑战。对传统再生资源回收企业如何抓住机遇、转变观念、突破创新，进行了深入、全面的分析。     

Heterogeneous and unconventional coalitions around global food risks: integrating Brazil into the debates

Current debates about food-borne risks (GMOs and BSE) have not only deepened public concern about how food is produced on farms, processed in factories, and transported, stored and traded. More importantly, these debates have exposed a crisis related to central social issues, such as the role of science, politics and business corporations in the decision-making processes for determining which risks societies should, or are prepared to, assume. In this article, I discuss how cultural and social constructivist studies of environmental and health risks and Ulrich Beck's theory of world risk society can contribute to the analysis of how to deal with these conflicts. The criticism of quantitative methods of risk analysis has resulted in a certain idealization of the lay knowledge of risks as being intuitively more correct than the scientific one. One consequence of this polarization between expert and lay knowledge—idealizing the latter—is a disappointing vagueness when looking for alternatives on how to deal practically with risks that have important consequences. A key obstacle to the implementation of some of the suggestions presented by the critical risk analysis approach is that, for example, in the current global dynamics of food-borne risks we can find heterogeneous alliances for and against GMOs allying lay people and experts, as well as conventional and unconventional social actors, in a complicated manner, at the regional, national and international levels. Since a significant part of the analysis of manufactured risks focuses on the situation of highly industrialized countries, a more complex perspective of these lay and scientific alliances can be obtained from a more extensive study of the reactions surrounding GMOs and BSE in less-industrialized countries, such as Brazil. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

陕北多沙粗沙区乡村聚落土壤侵蚀的典型流域调查与估算——以碾庄沟流域为例

随着乡村聚落的发展,陕北多沙粗沙区乡村聚落土壤侵蚀的严重性已经凸显。以碾庄沟流域为例,研究了乡村聚落土壤侵蚀方式,并对侵蚀总量进行了估算。结果显示:从乡村聚落土壤侵蚀的主要方式来看,以新建窑洞的弃土侵蚀最大,窑洞坍塌侵蚀次之,聚落水蚀侵蚀量最小,其中塌窑侵蚀和建窑侵蚀两项合计占到乡村聚落土壤侵蚀总量的94.6%;从乡村聚落的侵蚀总量来看,面积占1.08%的乡村聚落产生的侵蚀量却占到全流域侵蚀总量的6.83%,人居侵蚀模数达6.3万t/(km2.a)或8.18 t/(人.a)。因此,对乡村聚落土壤侵蚀应加以重视,而土壤侵蚀的防治工作应该以新建窑洞的管理和废弃窑洞坍塌的治理为重点。     

对普光气田油菜的二氧化硫熏气实验

为探讨普光气田废气对周围农作物的影响和生物监测方法,选择气田周边油菜作为受试样本,对其进行二氧化硫现场熏气实验。结果表明,油菜在受到1.43 mg/m3浓度、3小时二氧化硫熏气后,植株耐受,不产生明显受害症状;叶片含硫量、MDA含量、可溶性蛋白含量等指标的测定结果与二氧化硫熏气浓度、熏气时间存在显著的相关关系。     

烟气同时脱硫脱氮生物膜填料塔的适用外加碳源

实验分别考察了外加乙酸钠、葡萄糖、酒石酸钾钠、甲醇等4种低分子有机碳源对生物膜填料塔烟气同时脱硫脱氮效率的影响。结果表明,外加乙酸钠的脱氮效果最佳,对NOx的平均去除率为62.05%;外加葡萄糖、酒石酸钾钠、甲醇时的NOx平均去除率分别为51.03%、46.98%、58.71%。乙酸钠、酒石酸钾钠、甲醇均能使SO2的去除率达到100%,葡萄糖显著降低了SO2的去除率。乙酸钠是在生物膜填料塔烟气同时脱硫脱氮技术中适宜的外加碳源。     

Forensic Evaluation of Metals (Cr,Cu, Pb,Zn), Isotopes (δ13C and δ15N), and C:N Ratios in Freshwater Sediment

A forensic approach was used to evaluate sediments from Portão Stream, including analysis of metals, carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) stable isotopes, and C:N ratios. Samples collected at various points located along the stream were tested in order to investigate a possible illegal leachate input. The studied stream is heavily impacted by sewage and industrial discharges from two cities along its course. Among the metals analyzed, chromium (Cr) was noticeably the main pollutant, showing the highest levels, above regulatory limits, downstream from some potential sources of effluents enriched with this metal. Isotope analyses revealed a general trend of depletion in the heavier isotope along the stream for C and N. The exception was one point near a hazardous waste landfill, where relatively more enriched δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values were found. The isotope and metal analysis results indicated that this site was affected by a particular source, demonstrating the combination of these parameters could be used for the discrimination of sources in a heavily polluted stream. Nevertheless, further investigations are necessary to provide a comprehensive evaluation of the biogeochemical processes involved in the incorporation of leachate in sediments to use this analysis as evidence for the illegal leachate discharge.     

好氧颗粒污泥自生动态膜生物反应器处理碱减量印染废水

自生动态膜生物反应器(SFDMBR)接种颗粒污泥启动,研究溶解氧浓度和水力停留时间对该反应器处理碱减量印染废水的影响。自生动态膜生物反应器形成稳定的动态膜后,出水浊度小于10 NTU,系统对浊度的去除率在90%以上,溶解氧和水力停留时间对反应器出水浊度基本无影响。系统对废水色度的去除率随着溶解氧浓度的提高和水力停留时间的延长而增加,但是系统对色度的去除效率一般不超过40%。溶解氧浓度由0.3 mg/L逐渐增大至2.4 mg/L,COD的去除率由40%提升至80%,而当溶解氧浓度大于1.0 mg/L后,UV254的去除率达到95%。水力停留时间在8~48 h时,COD去除效率由65%逐渐上升至85%左右;水力停留时间在8~32 h,UV254去除效率为68%~93%,超过32 h后水力停留时间对UV254去除效率的影响已不明显。